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Posted by
pennyherscher
on 2008-04-05

PUBLIC:

David is unbelivably smart and yet one of the nicest people you could meet. He's very patient working through R&D ideas and challenges with the team and motivating because he gets what we are trying to do. We feel very lucky to get to work with him.

Posted by
richarddemand
on 2007-11-21

PUBLIC:

Over the past fifteen years I have worked with a number of private and public investors, primarily beginning with iMALL in 1994 (sold to Excite@Home in 1999), spanning across a number of other companies including Intermix/Myspace, and now with Demand Media.
Based on that experience, I wanted to be very selective in picking our investment partner. After speaking to luminaries in the investment community, I was referred two years ago to Fred Harman and Oak as an ideal partner. Over the past two years Oak has funded three rounds of Demand Media, two rounds of iCrossing (where I am chairman) and a number of other exciting technology driven companies I have had the pleasure of working with. In every company that Oak reviewed, Oak has been surprisingly humble and open minded, grasped the business model quickly and painlessly, parsed the important information and data from the irrelevant "noise," and has been straight forward in their interest and valuation expectations.

After funding Demand Media (and other related companies) Oak has been a helpful, supportive, and open minded partner. I am most impressed by the deep understanding Fred has of the data and analytics WHILE recognizing that data is directional but not definitive and you must rely on management's judgment in making key decisions.
As Board members (Fred on Demand and Ren on iCrossing), Oak continues to add value, make strategic and operational suggestions where warranted, and be supportive in good and challenged times.

I found everyone at Oak to be very knowledgeable and experienced. They asked very tough but smart questions during the initial pitch and were straightforward about both their interest level and their reservations. The due diligence process was very clear and fast, and they were sensitive to confidential matters involving customers and competitors.

The term sheet required some negotiation; however, the initial terms were quite fair, and I found them to be quite willing to listen to reasonable requests for changes. I can highly recommend folks in their East Coast office.